Palm Beach May Require Living Wage

The County Is Considering Making Companies That Do Business With It Pay More Than The Federal Minimum.

August 27, 2002|By Jennifer Peltz, Florida Correspondent

WEST PALM BEACH -- At the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, a full-time worker earns less than $11,000 a year. But to the federal government, the poverty level for a family of four is $18,100 a year.

With that in mind, Palm Beach County commissioners are set to talk today about making companies that do county business -- and the county government itself -- pay a "living wage" higher than the federal minimum.

The idea is gaining momentum nationwide. Since the first living-wage law was enacted in 1994 in Baltimore, more than 40 cities and counties across the country have followed suit, including Miami-Dade County and the cities of Miami Beach and Gainesville. Broward County is considering the idea.

The required wage rates vary, as does the extent of their application. Miami-Dade's rate is $8.81 for employers that provide health insurance, and $10.09 for those that don't.

The idea has some support on the Palm Beach County panel.

Commissioner Carol Roberts has expressed concern about low-paying jobs at the county-owned Palm Beach International Airport, and Commissioner Burt Aaronson says he favors the living-wage concept so far.

Supporters say living-wage laws are only fair. They say full-time work should yield enough to live on -- and governments should set the example.

Proponents note that a recent study found that living-wage laws raise the pay, on average, of all of an area's lowest-income workers. Even businesses not covered by the rule may end up increasing wages to compete with what the affected businesses offer.

"On net, living wages may provide some assistance to the urban poor," Michigan State University economist David Neumark wrote in a March 2002 study, commissioned by the nonpartisan California Institute for Public Policy.

But opponents point to other findings of Neumark's study -- that living-wage rules also raise unemployment as businesses eliminate jobs in response to the wage increase and may not be the cheapest or broadest way to combat poverty.